Time for a "Sicko" sequel?

Even until his very last day in office, the George W. Bush administration has demonstrated that-contrary to public policy-it has no intention of stopping the United States from being taken over by tyrannical religious zealots who despise freedom and liberty. These zealots are not Muslim, of course, but evangelical Christians. In the White House's most far-reaching and outright disgusting capitulation yet to this galling group of God-fearing gasbags, the new health care "conscience" rule announced Friday legitimizes discrimination among health care providers by allowing them to refuse to participate in providing care that they deem "objectionable" to their fellow human beings based on the provider's religious beliefs.

Yes, this is true.

It is inevitable that there will be cases of rape victims being denied information about emergency contraception under this federal rule, despite laws in some states entitling access. This of course will be applauded by the abortion-clinic-protesting crowd, who will probably argue that God knew there were not enough children being raised by unfit mothers and underfunded state care systems, and therefore the rape was some kind of divine intervention. After all, it is far more believable than immaculate conception in the 21st century. The bigger problem is that this goes far beyond abortion rights. In this kind of theocratic system, is it unreasonable that at some point a Fred Phelps-following pharmacist will refuse to dispense doctor-prescribed HIV medication to a gay patient, and be legally protected for doing so? We are certainly not there yet, but this new rule has opened the gate to the slope, and I hear it can be slippery.

In what can be interpreted as Bush's final "fuck you" to the American people (which the American people will return in kind) this rule goes into effect the day before he leaves office, and will take months to repeal. And that is if Barack Obama chooses to overturn it. With Obama's apparent newfound friendship with Reverend Rick Warren (whose anti-gay bigotry knows no bounds), it remains to be seen what kind of shape his policies on science, health, and human rights will take.